The present invention relates an information sharing system for centrally managing a groupware system (information sharing system) for sharing information, such as a video conference system that runs on information processing apparatus connected to a network, and an information sharing system management apparatus and method.
Recently, groupware systems such as a video conference system, a remote lecture system, and the like using personal computers (PCs) and workstations have become popular. This is a system for sharing information at a plurality of sites on the network. Among these systems, in the video conference system, images sensed by cameras and voices input by microphones connected to each other""s terminals are exchanged to talk and exchange opinions among a plurality of sites. Furthermore, the system has a function of sharing each other""s screens by exchanging commands for images on the screens and application software programs.
Also, a video conference system having a conference management function that can hold a plurality of conferences is also available. In this case, a server for the video conference system is installed on a given terminal on the network, and the participants of a given conference can know the presence of other conferences by sharing conference information managed by the server.
However, in the conventional video conference system, a list of conferences that are in progress and their contents can be referred to, but the contents of past conferences cannot be referred to unless a conference recording system is started in addition to the conference management system. Also, there is no means that can link the past conferences to those that are in progress.
FIGS. 21A to 21C show an example of the relationship between conferences held by the video conference system, and the conference management system. FIG. 21A shows an example of the conference management system that links conferences A and B that are in progress. In this system, when a user who is taking part in conference A also wants to join conference B and to exchange data common to the two conferences, the users must join both the conferences. However, when messages need only be exchanged, it is wasteful to join both the conferences for that purpose only, and this results in low work efficiency such as a low throughput of the system.
FIG. 21B shows a state wherein a certain conference repetitively suspends and resumes, and transits to conferences 1, 2, and 3. In this case, in the prior art, when the conference suspends, the conference state is saved to end the conference, and when the conference resumes, the saved conference state is loaded to continue the suspended conference. However, in some cases, the conference continues with identical members, and digests of the previous conferences need only be referred to. In such case, the contents at the end of the previous conference need not be faithfully reproduced as the contents of the resumed conference. The faithful reproduction of the conference is time-consuming, resulting in low work efficiency.
FIG. 21C shows an example wherein a certain user looks on a conference that is in progress from the conference management system. In the prior art, in order to recognize the contents of the conference, the user must join the conference itself and cannot remain a so-called spectator. For this reason, when the user merely observes the contents of the conference or makes only simple comments, he or she does not fully use the functions of the video conference system and the resource of the system is wasted.
Furthermore, no conference management system that can systematically implement conference management patterns shown in FIGS. 21A to 21C has been available to date.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned prior art, and has as its object to provide an information sharing system, and an information sharing system management apparatus and method, which allow a user to refer to the history of a conference without joining an information sharing system such as a conference and to refer to the history and participate in functions of, e.g., a conference that are in progress by a single system, and can prevent a decrease in work efficiency.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an information sharing system, and an information sharing system management apparatus and method, which can suspend the functions of, e.g., a conference that is in progress without ending them so as to obviate the need for processing required for saving and resuming the state of the conference, and can improve work efficiency.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an information sharing system, and an information sharing system management apparatus and method, which can exchange information between conferences (groupware systems) without requiring a user to join a plurality of conferences (groupware systems) at the same time, and can prevent a decrease in work efficiency.
It is still another object of the present invention to realize an information sharing system, and an information sharing system management apparatus and method, which allows a user who is not a member of a conference (groupware system) to make a comment on the conference (groupware system), and can prevent a decrease in work efficiency.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an information sharing system management apparatus for managing at least one information sharing system that shares information by a plurality of terminals, comprising:
reception means for receiving status information and/or history information from the information sharing system;
storage means for storing the status information and/or history information received by the reception means; and
output means for reading out the stored status information and/or history information of the information sharing system and outputting status or history data of the information sharing system.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an information sharing system management method for managing at least one information sharing system that shares information by a plurality of terminals connected via a network, comprising:
the reception step of receiving status information and/or history information from the information sharing system;
the storage step of storing the status information and/or history information received in the reception step; and
the output step of reading out the stored status information and/or history information of the information sharing system and outputting status or history data of the information sharing system.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an information sharing management system comprising a first management system which manages an information sharing system running on a terminal device connected to a network, and runs on the terminal device, and a second management system on another terminal device,
the first management system comprising:
first message reception means for receiving a message from the information sharing system or the second management system;
information acquisition means for acquiring status information associated with the information sharing system;
history generation means for generating history information of the information sharing system;
first message generation means for generating a first message on the basis of the status information acquired by the information acquisition means or the history information generated by the history information generation means; and
first message transmission means for transmitting the first message generated by the first message generation means onto the network, and
the second management system comprising:
second message reception means for receiving a message from the first management system;
storage means for storing contents of the received message; and
output means for outputting status information or history information stored in the storage means.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a computer readable storage medium that stores a program for managing at least one information sharing system that shares information by a plurality of terminals connected via a network, the program including:
reception means for receiving status information and/or history information from the information sharing system;
storage means for storing the status information and/or history information received by the reception means; and
output means for reading out the stored status information and/or history information of the information sharing system and outputting status or history data of the information sharing system.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.